Just Harry
by MariaCandice
Summary: Ginny realises why Harry does not like her. She once considered Harry as the Boy Who Lived. Everyone did. Except one. To that person, he was just Harry. HHr with OotP spoilers!


[Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley and other familiar characters in this fanfiction, or any other fanfiction that has my name as author. I am not making money from this. I wish I did, and was (grin)

A/N: I am not a true fan of Ginny, but I do admire her for her fiestiness, and how she is a Leo, like myself. Please, read and enjoy. I insist :) ]

**Just Harry.**

A true hero. That was Harry Potter. She had always seen him as the hero, the knight in shining armor, prince charming. Maybe that's what she did wrong, because she knew now that what he really wanted was to be considered normal, and not be referred to as _the_ Harry Potter, but, just Harry.

One person, and only one person, had ever considered him, not as the Boy Who Lived, but as the boy called Harry from the very beginning. Hermione Granger. That's why he looked at her in that way, why he reserved such a special look just for her. That's what made her stand out so much.

_Don't kid yourself, Ginny. Hermione stands out so much to him for a lot more, but that is certainly a valid point._

Hermione was also very loyal. Harry needed loyalty, which was no secret. He needed faith, understanding, trust… _Don't we all?_ He needed love. And she gave him all of them. Sure, her love started out as friendship, but it developed into something more, something she could not control, or wanted to control.

Harry, the silly boy, was still oblivious to her feelings. He was so clueless when it came to girls. _It took him months to notice I had a crush on him!_ His brief relationship with Cho certainly helped. He wasn't as clueless as before after that.

What Ginny couldn't understand, however, was how Harry had not realized Hermione's feelings toward him, when she was the only one who had been able to get him out of Buckbeak's room, when he had tried to isolate himself from everyone in Number 12 Grimmauld Place, including Ron and Sirius.

But he changed with the death of Sirius. She knew it. Everyone who knew the real Sirius knew Harry had changed after his passing. He was so much more angry now, and confused. And scared. Ginny knew Hermione was scared for Harry. She gave him looks, too. So far, she had counted 6 of those looks and had given them names. One was the Harry-you-are-not-being-responsible look reserved only for when Harry was not doing his homework, or putting it off. Another one was the Harry-please-don't-be-so-irrational look, where she usually ended up either begging him to stay out of trouble, or scolding him to. The Harry-please-don't-be-so-angry-with-me look was one of Ginny's favorites, because she found it slightly amusing. She couldn't see how Harry could stay angry at Hermione after that look, but then again, he never _could_ stay angry at her for long. One of the looks Harry rarely gets to see is when he plays Quidditch. One would think Hermione was on the verge of fainting whenever Harry made a spectacularly abrupt dive or where he fell to ground from his broomstick a couple of times. Not to mention the First Task in Ginny's Third year. Hermione looked positively frightened. Lately, she had been giving him her Harry-I'm-here-if-you-need-me look. Hermione had been losing weight recently, and maybe the reason for this was her worry for Harry. The one look that nearly everyone was aware of Hermione having was the Harry-I-love-you look. The only person, it seemed, that was not aware of this, was Harry himself. _Silly boy._

So when word got out that Harry and Hermione had kissed, the most common word Ginny had heard was '_Finally!_'. A lot of versions of how Harry had kissed Hermione were as unlikely as the other. One had Harry punching Ron after _he'd_ kissed Hermione, and some people actually believed Harry and Ron were not talking to each other. This was unlikely because Ron was busy pining over Luna, and Luna was very much enjoying his attention. Another version had Harry kiss Hermione in one of Snape's classes, and they continued kissing passionately on top of their desk for minutes. Colin Creevey swore to anyone who would listen that he saw them at it. This was unlikely because, Colin was _Ginny's _classmate, and Harry wouldn't want to kiss Hermione in front of Snape, just to annoy him and disrupt his class. _I think._

But Ginny knew how it really went. For she had witnessed it _accidentally_, but she will take what she saw to the grave. Unless someone asked her nicely.  
  
Harry had had a rough Quidditch practice one fateful Saturday. Having been made Captain, and having to train the new team members, when the ground was muddy, the air incredibly humid, and the sun barely visible from behind the grey clouds, Harry told his team he wanted nothing but to sit down on his favorite armchair and wait for midnight, then go to sleep. It had become a habit for him now, Ginny observed, to sleep at, or after, midnight.

However, that particular Saturday, he had found Hermione reading away another one of her over-sized books in the corner. As it was such a Harry-thing to do, he went and joined her. Ginny had only been a few feet behind Harry, and was at that moment, on the first steps of the staircase leading to the girls' dormitory. And as fate would have it, her bag ripped open from the bottom just as she was out of sight, but not out of earshot.  
  
'Hi,' said Harry, as Ginny heard him collapse in the armchair next to Hermione's. Ginny assumed Hermione said hi back because she didn't hear her, and Harry resumed talking a few moments later. 'You should really give your eyes a break, you know.'

'Why?' Ginny heard Hermione ask. Taking a chance, she quietly dropped her things and peeked at what the two of them were doing.

'Because they look so tired,' he said, bringing his hand to her cheek.

'What are you doing?' Hermione asked, a note of panic in her voice. What _was_ he doing, Ginny thought.

'S-sorry, it seemed like the right thing to do at that moment,' said Harry, withdrawing the hand, and looking down.

Ginny saw Hermione look into Harry's eyes. She felt a pang of jealousy at how he looked back into hers.

It was a moment before Hermione stood up, and grabbed Harry's hand.  
'Harry, you are tired, and you do not know what you are thinking or feeling. I can see confusion in your eyes,' she said, dragging him to the staircase leading to the boys' dormitory. 'Go to sleep.'

But Harry stopped abruptly, which made Hermione stopped, too. He pulled her hand towards him, and by doing so, her face resulted mere inches from his.

'Don't-' she said, looking away.

'Why not?' he whispered, Ginny barely able to hear him.

'You don't want to… you think you do, but you don't. I know so,' she told him, trying to take her hand from Harry, but he resisted.

'How do you know what I want to do? I haven't thought about anything else today but you, and it's been like that for a while. Tell me, why is that so wrong?'

'Because you're tired, Harry. That's all it is. And you feel lonely,' said Hermione, adding the last sentence cautiously.

'That's ridiculous. I'm not lonely,' he replied. 'And I'm not to tired to do this- '

Once again, Harry pulled Hermione's hand, and pulled her closer to him than last time. He cupped her cheek and, Ginny saw, leaned in to seal Hermione's lips with his. As Ginny turned to look away, it was plainly obvious to her that the kiss had been longingly awaited by both parties. She didn't need to stay around to find out what happened next, for she felt she had already seen too much.

Perhaps it _was_ better she had started to get over Harry. Had she seen this when her crushing on him was still on full blast, she would have cried herself to sleep for some nights. Instead, as she got to her dormitory door a few seconds later that night, having picked up all the things that dropped from her bag, she had sighed and wore a bitter-sweet smile.  
Everyone needs some time to get over major crushes, she reasoned to herself.

Ginny knew Harry was a hero to most people, but to Hermione, he was just someone she truly cared for, someone who needed her as badly as she needed him, someone who was a true friend and lover. To Hermione, Harry was _just Harry._

And that was why he loved Hermione. _And not me_.

  
The End


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